or


[12/28/20 - 08:05 AM]
Sunday's Broadcast Ratings: NBC Leads Night with "Sunday Night Football"
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

Primetime Preliminary Fast National Nielsen Data
(includes all DVR playback through 3:00 am)

Here are the highlights of the 18 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (12/27/20):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live sports.]

NBC (12.470 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.2, #1) remained on top on Sunday with its usual mix of "Football Night in America #1" (5.836 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.3, #5), "Football Night in America #2" (7.723 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.8, #4), "Football Night in America #3" (12.887 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.2, #3) and "Sunday Night Football" (14.662 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.8, #1).

FOX (6.312 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #2) was the silver draw with a full hour of "NFL Overrun" (13.382 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.5, #2) followed by the premiere of "The Masked Dancer" (4.123 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.2, #6), the special "2021 FOX Winter Preview" (1.737 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T8) and a repeat "Family Guy" (1.126 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11).

Next up was CBS (3.910 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) with its lineup of "60 Minutes" (6.707 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.7, #7) and repeats of "NCIS: Los Angeles" (3.376 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11), "NCIS: New Orleans" (2.952 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11) and "NCIS" (2.606 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11).

Meanwhile, ABC (2.654 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) opted for repeats of "America's Funniest Home Videos" (3.651 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.4, #10), another "America's Funniest Home Videos" (3.681 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T8), "Supermarket Sweep" (1.877 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11) and another "Supermarket Sweep" (1.405 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.2, #16).

And finally, The CW (0.375 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5) offered up an encore of "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (0.420 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.1, #17) plus a new "The Outpost" (0.330 million viewers, #18; adults 18-49: 0.0, #18).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+63.64% - Football Night in America #2
+44.44% - Football Night in America #1
+14.29% - Football Night in America #3
+11.76% - Sunday Night Football
-50.00% - 60 Minutes
-100.00% - The Outpost

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+33.33% - The Masked Dancer (vs. Flirty Dancing)
+25.00% - 2021 FOX Winter Preview (vs. Bless the Harts (Repeat))
-20.83% - Sunday Night Football
-36.36% - 60 Minutes
-38.46% - Football Night in America #3
-40.91% - Football Night in America #1
-45.45% - Football Night in America #2
-100.00% - The Outpost (vs. Supergirl (Repeat))


Here are the highlights of the 21 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/29/19):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live events.]

NBC (16.080 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.3, #1) closed its Sunday lineup on top with the finales to "Football Night in America #1" (9.376 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.2, #6), "Football Night in America #2" (12.954 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.3, #4), "Football Night in America #3" (19.558 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 5.2, #1) and "Sunday Night Football" (17.350 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.8, #2).

FOX (5.835 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #2) was the distant silver with its mix of "The OT" (13.072 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.5, #3), the premiere of "Flirty Dancing" (3.167 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.9, #8) and repeats of "Bless the Harts" (1.330 million viewers, #18; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10) and "Family Guy" (1.204 million viewers, #19; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10).

Next up was CBS (4.817 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.8, #3) and its mix of "NFL Overrun" (11.506 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.4, #5), "60 Minutes" (7.614 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.1, #7), "The Unicorn" (3.151 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10), another "The Unicorn" (2.465 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T16), "Carol's Second Act" (2.198 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T16), another "Carol's Second Act" (2.057 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.2, #T18) and "All Rise" (1.931 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.2, #T18).

Meanwhile, ABC (2.765 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #4) offered up repeats of "America's Funniest Home Videos" (3.996 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.6, #9), "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (2.730 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10), "Shark Tank" (2.264 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10) and another "Shark Tank" (2.071 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T10).

And finally, second runs of "Batwoman" (0.565 million viewers, #20; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T20) and "Supergirl" (0.484 million viewers, #21; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T20) closed out the evening on The CW (0.524 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+100.00% - Football Night in America #1
+83.33% - 60 Minutes
+73.68% - Football Night in America #2
+62.50% - Football Night in America #3
+20.00% - Sunday Night Football

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+100.00% - Football Night in America #1
+73.68% - Football Night in America #2
+48.57% - Football Night in America #3
+20.00% - Sunday Night Football
0.00% - 60 Minutes
-30.77% - Flirty Dancing (vs. The Orville)

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [december 2020]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[05/28/26 - 03:23 PM]
2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Presented by Dunkin' Finishes Strong with Average Audience of 7.4 Million Viewers Across ESPN and ABC
Additionally, Game 4 on ESPN averaged 7.2 million viewers, marking the most-viewed Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 across any network since 2018.

[05/28/26 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Outpaces Competitors with Eight of the Top 25 Series Across All Streaming and Broadcast Originals in Nielsen's All-Series Ranker
CBS has the most top 25 series of any streaming or broadcast competitor and twice as many as its closest broadcast competitor, including six series with 10+ million viewers.

[05/28/26 - 10:31 AM]
FOX Delivers Most-Watched UFL Game Since League Started in 2024
1,593,000 viewers watched as Louisville defeated Dallas 37-23 on Sunday.

[05/28/26 - 10:26 AM]
FOX Scores with 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500
6,635,000 viewers watched Felix Rosenqvist edge David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds with a last-lap pass to win the Indy 500 Sunday on FOX.

[05/27/26 - 03:13 PM]
FOX Saturday Baseball Draws Strong Audience Over Holiday Weekend
2,355,000 viewers tuned in to the two-game slate highlighted by the Dodgers' 11-3 victory over the Brewers in most of the country.

[05/26/26 - 12:03 PM]
"Off Campus" Season 1 Has Reached 36 Million Viewers Worldwide in Its First 12 Days
Off Campus. On everyone's screen.

[05/26/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 18 - In Ruthless Pursuit, "Nemesis" Steals No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Retirement in "The Boroughs" is anything but sleepy as the Duffer Brothers-produced sci-fi series took No. 2 on the list with 5.6 million views.

[05/26/26 - 11:00 AM]
"Dutton Ranch" Is the Biggest Original Series Debut in Paramount+ History
In addition to its record-setting performance on Paramount+, "Dutton Ranch" is also the #1 streaming series according to Nielsen based on average audience for the week of May 11 according to preliminary data.

[05/21/26 - 02:32 PM]
ESPN Delivered Most-Watched NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 Since 2018
The New York Knicks overtime victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 19 generated an average audience of 7.1 million viewers and peaked with 8.87 million viewers at 10:45 p.m. ET.

[05/21/26 - 02:00 PM]
"Survivor" Historic 50th Season Concludes with Most-Watched Finale Since 2020
The season finale drew an average of 5.78 million viewers, based on Nielsen Preliminary panel only data.

[05/21/26 - 07:01 AM]
NBC Sports' 2026 SuperMotocross Coverage Delivers Viewership Gains and Milestones
The seven races featured on NBC and Peacock averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 468,000 viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 8% vs. 2025.

[05/20/26 - 03:05 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver the Most-Watched Western Conference Finals Game 1 Ever for Monday's Spurs-Thunder Double Overtime Thriller
Coverage peaked with 12.0 million viewers from 11:30-11:43 p.m. ET for the second overtime and game's conclusion.

[05/20/26 - 03:04 PM]
ESPN Aired Its Most Viewed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round of the Current Rights Deal
Collectively all 11 Second Round games, with nine airing on ESPN and two on ABC, delivered 2.2 million viewers, up 76% year-over-year.

[05/20/26 - 07:36 AM]
After Record-Setting 2025 Season, "Sunday Night Football" Finishes Fall-Spring TV Season as Primetime's No. 1 Show for Unprecedented 15th Consecutive Year
The series averaged 23.5 million viewers in 2025, marking the show's best-ever viewership - up nearly 1 million viewers from the prior record for the series set a decade ago (22.6 million in 2015 season) and an increase of 9% over the '24 season (21.6 million).

[05/19/26 - 02:52 PM]
Subway Series Delivers Second Most-Watched FOX Saturday Baseball Telecast of the Season
2,500,000 viewers tuned-in to the two-game slate highlighted by the Mets' 6-3 victory over the Yankees in most of the country.